The Sayings Of Confucius Part 24

10. Tzu-hsia said, Until they trust him, a gentleman lays no burdens on his people. If they do not trust him, they will think it cruel.

Until they trust him, he does not chide them. Unless they trust him, it will seem fault-finding.

11. Tzu-hsia said, If we keep within the bounds of honour, we can step to and fro through propriety.

12. Tzu-yu said, The disciples, the little sons of Tzu-hsia, can sprinkle and sweep, attend and answer, come in and go out; but what can come of twigs without roots?

When Tzu-hsia heard this, he said, Yen Yu[173] is wrong. If we teach one thing in the way of a gentleman first, shall we tire before reaching the next? Thus plants and trees differ in size. Should the way of a gentleman bewilder him? To learn it, first and last, none but the holy are fit.

[Footnote 173: Tzu-yu.]

13. Tzu-hsia said, A servant of the crown should give his spare strength to learning. With his spare strength a scholar should serve the crown.

14. Tzu-yu said, Mourning should stretch to grief, and stop there.

15. Tzu-yu said, Our friend Chang[174] can do hard things, but love is not yet his.

16. Tseng-tzu said, Chang is so s.p.a.cious, so lordly, that at his side it is hard to do what love bids.

17. Tseng-tzu said, I have heard the Master say, Man never shows what is in him unless it be in mourning those dear to him.

18. Tseng-tzu said, I have heard the Master say, In all else we may be as good a son as Meng Chuang, but in not changing his father's ministers, or his father's rule, he is hard to match.

19. The Meng[175] made Yang Fu[176] Chief Knight,[177] who spake to Tseng-tzu about it.

Tseng-tzu said, Those above have lost their way, the people have long been astray. When thou dost get at the truth, be moved to pity, not puffed with joy.

20. Tzu-kung said, Chou[178] was not so very wicked! Thus a gentleman hates to live in a hollow, down into which runs all that is foul below heaven.

21. Tzu-kung said, A gentleman's faults are like the eating of sun or moon.[179] All men see them, and when he mends all men look up to him.

[Footnote 174: Tzu-chang.]

[Footnote 175: The chief of the Meng clan, powerful in Lu.]

[Footnote 176: A disciple of Tseng-tzu.]

[Footnote 177: Or criminal judge.]

[Footnote 178: The tyrant that ended the Yin dynasty.]

[Footnote 179: An eclipse.]

22. Kung-sun Ch'ao of Wei asked Tzu-kung, From whom did Chung-ni[180]

learn?

Tzu-kung said, The Way of Wen and Wu[181] has not fallen into ruin. It lives in men: the big in big men, the small in small men. In none of them is the Way of Wen and Wu missing. How should the Master not learn it? What need had he for a set teacher?

23. In talk with the great men of the court Shu-sun Wu-shu[182] said, Tzu-kung is worthier than Chung-ni.

Tzu-fu Ching-po told this to Tzu-kung.

Tzu-kung said, This is like the palace wall. My wall reaches to the shoulder: peeping over you see the good home within. The Master's wall is several fathoms high: no one can see the beauty of the Ancestral Temple and the wealth of its hundred officers, unless he gets in by the gate. And if only a few men find the gate, may not my lord have spoken the truth?

24. Shu-sun Wu-shu cried down Chung-ni.

Tzu-kung said, It is labour lost. Chung-ni cannot be cried down. The greatness of other men is a hummock, over which we can still leap.

Chung-ni is the sun or moon, which no one can overleap. Though the man were willing to kill himself, how could he hurt the sun or moon? That he does not know his own measure would only be seen the better!

25. Ch'en Tzu-ch'in[183] said to Tzu-kung, Ye humble yourself, Sir. In what is Chung-ni your better?

[Footnote 180: Confucius.]

[Footnote 181: See Introduction.]

[Footnote 182: Head of the Meng clan.]

[Footnote 183: A disciple of Tzu-kung.]

Tzu-kung said, By one word a gentleman shows wisdom, by one word want of wisdom. Words must not be lightly spoken. No one can come up to the Master, as heaven is not to be climbed by steps. If the Master had power in a kingdom, or a clan, the saying would come true, 'What he sets up stands; he shows the way and men go it, he brings peace and they come, he stirs them and they are at one. Honoured in life, he is mourned when dead!' Who can come up to him?

BOOK XX[184]

1. Yao said, Hail to thee, Shun! The count that Heaven is telling falls on thee. Keep true hold of the centre. If there be stress or want within the four seas, the gift of Heaven will pa.s.s for ever.

Shun laid the same commands on Yu.

_T'ang_ said, I, Thy little child Li, dare to offer this black steer, and dare to proclaim before Thee, Almighty Lord, that I dare not forgive sin, nor keep down Thy ministers. Search them, O Lord, in Thine heart. If Our life be sinful, visit it not upon the ten thousand homesteads. If the ten thousand homesteads sin, the sin is on Our head.

Chou bestowed great gifts, and good men grew rich.

'Loving hearts are better than near kinsmen. All the people blame no one but me.'[185]

He saw to weights and measures, revised the laws, and brought back broken officers. Order reigned everywhere. He revived ruined kingdoms and restored fiefs that had fallen in. All hearts below heaven turned to him. The people's food, burials and wors.h.i.+p weighed most with him.

His bounty gained the many, his truth won the people's trust, his earnestness brought success, his justice made men glad.

[Footnote 184: This chapter shows the principles on which China was governed in old times. Yao and Shun were the legendary founders of the Chinese Empire, Yu, T'ang, and Chou were the first emperors of the houses of Hsia, Shang and Chou, which had ruled China up till the time of Confucius.]

[Footnote 185: Said by King Wu (Chou). The people blamed him for not dethroning at once the tyrant Chou Hsin.]

2. Tzu-chang asked Confucius, How should men be governed?

The Master said, To govern men we must honour five fair things and spurn four evil things.

Tzu-chang said, What are the five fair things?